BREEDING. 
93 
took an excellent photograph ; the trunks and tails came out rather 
indistinctly ; this, Mr. Porter afterwards informed me, was due to the 
fact that they were in constant and rapid motion. The congress 
lasted some time. Some time ago I received a remarkable photo, from 
Mr. H. G. Batten, of the BurmaCommission, depicting elephants during 
congress in an open space and they were more or less surrounded by 
men armed with spears. During February igo2 the late Mr. Slade 
had opportunities of obtaining most accurate information on this 
subject. He was enabled to take a remarkable series of photographs, 
the elephants paying no attention whatsoever to the people being 
round about. The animals in question were his baggage elephants. 
The mahouts having suspicions informed Mr. Slade who ordered a 
close watch to be kept. The tusker showed no sign of musth. A cow- 
he was said to have a particular liking for screamed and strained on 
her chains at his approach and was accordingly set free ; another 
cow also tethered evinced no fear. Mr. Slade remarked that there 
was considerable play beforehand, which may have led to the 
erroneous opinion that congress lasted some time, whereas it only 
occupied one minute. The position of the male is, as I have noted, 
similar to that of other animals, except that the fore-legs are placed 
one on each side of the spine (not on the sides) and are run along 
the back as far as the shoulders ; the tusker neither grips nor steadies 
himself with the fore-legs and he gradually sinks on his hind-legs 
till he almost assumes a sitting posture, then gradually raising 
himself till his hind-legs are straight. After congress the tusker 
moves off and remains silent ; the females showed some excite- 
ment by trumpeting softly, flapping their ears and whisking their 
tails. 
As the male keeps his fore-feet so close together, the statement 
made by Burmans to the effect that a fettered male loose in the 
jungle is capable of mounting is correct. 
Mr. Slade could not discern any signs of the cows being in 
season, though by their behaviour he was certain three of the four 
with him were so during the i o days he was in camp. In fact he 
was quite certain that it was the female and not the male that came 
into season and until she does the male takes no notice. Mr. Slade 
observed that this tusker mounted one cow daily from the 20th to 
the 27th February inclusive; on the 28th she did not respond to 
his addresses^ though not evincing any fear. The three cows were 
Hla U, Kale Ma, and Nu Nyun. No result followed in the case of 
Hla U, who was covered on the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 28th 
February. Kale Ma gave birth to a male calf on the 14th February, 
practically two years after, and Nu Nyun dropped a dead calf in 
September 1903, 19 months after. 
